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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



III 

013 744 394 6 




SANITARY COMMISSION. 

No. 8S. 



RULES 

FOR THE 

EXECUTIVE SERVICE 

OF THE 

U. S. SANITARY COMMISSION, 

Adopted III/ the Commission, Jii/// 14///, 18(54. 



The Staiidinij,' Cuiuiiiittee will meet daily, at the (Neutral 
OfHce, No. 823 Broadway, New York, at halt-i)ast three, i-. m., 
or at such other hour and place as it shall a})point. It will 
also hold evening sessions at least once in each week. One 
member of the Connnittee, with the 'General Secretary, shall 
be a quornm for the transaction of ordinary business. All 
action l)y the Connnittee is subject to the ap})roval of the 
Commission. ' 

II- 

The General Secretary shall record all action of the Com- 
mittee in its minutes ; which minutes shall l)e re[»orted by liim 
to the Commission at every meeting. 

III. 

The Treasurer shall make no payments without anthority 
from the Committee. 

MonoirrapH 



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IV. 

At eacli weekl}^ meeting of tlie Coininittee the Secretary 
shall report, hi writing, on the current l)usiness of the past 
week, which report shall Ije entered at length in a book to be 
in'ovided for that purpose. He shall also lay before the Com- 
mittee such reports and corres})ondence as he may consider of 
importance, or as calling for action, with a memorandum or 
abstract in writing of their substance, and shall read such por- 
tions of them as may be material. 

The order of business at meetings of the Conmiittee shall be — 

(1.) The examination of bills and motions l)y the Treasurer; 

(2.) Motions and reports by the (General Secretary ; 

(3.) Miscellaneous business. 

v. 

At each meeting of the Standing Conunittee the Treasurer 
shall submit his bank and check books ; and between the first 
and tenth days of each month, he shall produce a certificate 
from the bank or banks in which funds of the Commission are 
deposited, showing the balance then standing to his credit as 
such Treasurer. 

VI. 

No person in the emplo}- of the Commission is permitted to 
criticise or censure the conduct, or the measures of any mili- 
tary officer, or of Government, b}^ word or writing, except 
only, that if such conduct or such measures seem to him inju- 
rious to the sanitary interests of the national forces, he shall 
report his opinion and the facts on which it is founded, to the 
Commission through the General Secretary. 

Every ofiicer and agent of the Commission is expected and 
required to uphold and maintain the authority and the policy 
of Government, and of its officers, civil and military, by every 
means in his power, and if unable conscientiously to do so, to 
refrain from all comments thereon, except when his official 
duty makes it necessary. 



yii. 

Hio agent of the Coniniission is permitted to fiirnisli int'onna- 

&ion to the newspaper press, of military movements with wliieh 

she may have become acquainted in the course of his official 

"■'work. Chiefs of the Field Relief Department, will studiously 

discourage all newspaper correspondence by their subordinates. 

VIII. 

At each session of the Commission, the (leneral and Asso- 
ciate Secretaries will severally report a summary of their 
work since the last preceding session ; such report shall, in all 
cases, be in writing, and in proper form for publication. Each 
report will be accompanied by a written abstract of the re- 
ports of Inspectors, Relief Agents, &c., and of the other docu- 
ments submitted with it ; the material portions of such last 
mentioned reports and documents being previously marked as 
to be read, and only such portions thereof being read, unless 
the whole be called for. 

IX. 

At each session of the Commission the minutes of the 
Standing Connnittee shall be reported by the General Secre- 
tary, who shall read such portion of them as may contain the 
record of any action of importance, and the whole if called for. 

X. 

From and after the 6th day of August next, every person 
in the service of the Board, above the grade of ordinary 
clerk, laborer, or teamster, shall make a weekly report in writ- 
ing to his innnediate official superior, unless he shall present a 
written sxcuse which shall be satisfactory to the Commission, or 
to the Standing Connnittee wdien the Conmiission is not in 
session, 

XL 

From and after the Gth day of August next, no pay- 



ments shall be made on account of the salary of any person 
in the service of tlie Commission, above the rank of ordinary 
clerk, laborer or teamster, who shall have failed to comply with 
the provisions of the foregoing resolution. 

XII. 

All bills for services or supplies ordered by any member, 
officer, or agent of the Conmiission, shall be certified by him in 
writing as correct, before presentation to the Standing Com- 
mittee, which may, however, in special cases, dispense Avith 
such written certificate. 

XIII. 

All bills for services or supplies must be presented within 
five days after they are payable. It is the duty of every mem- 
ber and agent of the Commission who shall engage services, 
or purchase supplies on its l)elialf, to notify the person with 
whom he is dealing of this rule, and distinctly to inform him 
that the presentation of his l)ill within that space of time, is a 
couditiou of its payment. Xo o])en accounts with the Com- 
mission can be kept by any person in its employ, or witliAvhom 
it deals. 

XIV. 

All voucliers for tlie expenditure of money shall be certified 
in writing before they are paid by the chief ofiScer in charge 
of the office from which such expenditure is made or Iw some 
person to be designated by such officer. 

Youcliers shall particularly designate for what purpose the 
money has been paid, and shall include a detailed statement 
of items and the receipt of the parties who have received the 
money. 

XV. 

Persons enteriug the service of the Commission as volun- 
teers, will not, under any circumstances, be allowed compen- 



sat ion for such service, or for any loss tliey may have sustained 
in tlie performance of their duties. 

XVI. 

No appointment of an agent or servant, by any member, 
officer, or agent of the Commission, sliall be valid or bindina', 
until approved by the Connnission or the Standing Coinmittee. 

XVII. 

No officer or agent of tlie Connnission is allowed to expend 
any portion of its funds for any purpose, however liumane, 
charitable, or meritorious ; or for the aid, relief, or benefit of 
soldiers in the National service, in any way, or through any 
method, direct or indirect, wdiicli has not been approved and 
sanctioned by the Commission, or by the Standing Committee. 
The duties and functions assigned to the Connnission, being 
distinct and well defined, any application of its funds to other 
objects, however stronglj^ they may appeal to the sym])athies 
of its officers, is a breach of trust. 

XVIII. 

Whenever there shall appear to be danger of malarious dis- 
ease at any Relief Station or other Agency of the Commission, 
it shall be the duty of the Chief Officer at such Station or 
Agency, to cause a daily ration of quinine to be issned to each 
member of the Relief Corps, and to every officer, agent, and 
servant of the Commission under his authority, and to take 
such measures as will secure the actual use of such ration, and 
enable him to report that it has been actually used. And all 
persons of the classes above indicated are required to use such 
daily ration, unless it appear by the written certificate of a 
competent physician that its use would be injurious. 

XIX. 

It being important not only to the health, but to the effi- 
ciency of every Relief Agent, that his dress and his equipments 



6 



be kept in perfect order, and that any defects therein be at once 
corrected, it shall be the duty of the Chief Officer of the Com- 
mission at every Kelief Station, to assemble his Corps at least 
once in each week, for a minnte inspection of their clothing, 
shoes, blankets, haversacks, &c. He shall cause such articles as 
are found deficient to be at once repaired or replaced. 

It shall be his duty, moreover, to advise all Relief Agents of 
the importance of personal neatness, and to require of them 
such attention to their dress and equi])ments as may set an 
example of good order and military precision to those with 
wliom their duties bring them into contact. If the outfit of 
any Relief Agent be defective or worn out, requisition should 
be made for whatever maybe required to supply the deficiency. 

XX. 

The General Secretary sliall provide books,containing printed 

forms, substantially as follows: "No. — , is engaged 

" by the United States Sanitary Commission, by the , or 

" during the pleasure of the Commission, at the rate of — — 

"dollars per , as , and also for such other or further 

" duties as may from time to time be assigned him. Dated 

" the day of , 186 ." This memorandum shall be signed 

by the General Secretary, or by one of the Associate Secretaries ; 
and by tlie person so employed or engaged. It sliall be sub- 
scribed by every ofiicer, agent, or servant now or hereafter en- 
gaged by the Commission for a stated term of service. 

XXI. 

The Chief Officer of the Commission at every Relief Station 
or other Agency which employs a wagon train, will cause such 
train to be daily inspected, and will require a daily report in 
writing of the condition of every wagon, which shall be at the 
base at each inspection, and of its team and harness. Blanks 
for such reports shall be furnished by the General Secretary^ 
Every wagon shall be numbered. The Inspector will examine 
and report on the condition of the wagons, and of the horses, 



and will see that their harness and their shoes are in order, 
and that each team is provided with whip, feed l)ox, wrench, 
water hnckets, etc., and with forage if necessary. 

He shall also keep a wagon clearance book, contaiiiiiiii; tlie 
following entries, in colnnnis, headed accordingly, viz. : 1. 
Date of entry. 2. N^o. of wagon. 3. Xanie of teamster. 4. 
General descriptit)n of load. 5. To M'hom, or to what corps 
or division consigned. (1. Date of retnrn of wagon. 7. He- 
marks. 

XXTI. 

It being most desirable that every lodge, home, depot, or 
other establishment of tlie Commission shonld set an example 
to the army of cleaidiness, good order, and conformity to san- 
itary laws, and there being reason to fear that agents of the 
Commission, in their zeal to relieve onr national soldiers and 
to promote their health and efficiency, are sometimes led to 
overlook the sanitary conditions reqnired to keep themselves 
in good health and fit for their work : it is fnrther ordered 
that every officer of the Commission in charge of any of its posts, 
be responsible for the maintenance thereof in the ntmost at- 
tainal)le degree of neatness and pnrity, and for the prompt cor- 
rection — so far as may be — of whatever endangers his own 
health and that of members of his corps. He will see that 
their (piarters fnrnish each ample air space ; that their snpply 
of water is nncontaminated ; that they have, if possible, facili- 
ties for bathing, and are reqiured to nse them at least once in 
each week ; that the neighljorhood of each station is. kept free 
from retuse and rul)bish, and daily policed ; that water-closets 
or sinks are daily disinfected, and that his servants, contra- 
bands or others, are provided with cleanly and wholesome 
clothing and (puirters. Shonld special difficulties prevent this 
being done at once, and always, they mnst be promptly re- 
ported to the Associate Secretary, of the District, with a 
requisition for whatever may be necessary to give agents and 
servants of the Connnission the same aid and relief which 
the Commission seeks to give the army. 



,«22^ °'' CONGRESS 




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013 744 394 6 

XXIII. 

No agent of the Commission is allowed to sell anything 
whatever, even tliongh his own private propertj^, to officers or 
soldiers of the national army, or to other ])ersons in govern- 
ment emplo}'. Any agent of the Connnission violating this 
rule, directly or indirectly, thereby terminates his relations 
witli the Commission. 

XXIY. 

It is recommended hy the Executive Committee, that at all 
Relief Stations, Homes, and Lodges of the Commission, such 
provision l)e made for the observance of Sunday, as a day of 
rest and religious observance, as tlie militai'v situation may 
render possible. 

XXV. 

All letters addressed to any principal office of the Commission 
shall be at once referred, on their receipt, to the officer in 
charge of the special department Jiaving supervision of the 
sid)ject. 

It is the duty of each officer t(» whom such letters are re- 
ferred, immediately to acknowledge their receipt, and, if pos- 
sible, to trausmit at once the infurnuition sought for. 



LIBRA 







LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 744 394 6 



